On Friday, August 22, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced a 16-man squad for the upcoming Asia Cup in September, which will be played in the T20 format. The United Arab Emirates will be hosting the eight-team tournament.
The Bangladesh selectors have recalled wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan and all-rounder Saif Hassan in the senior men’s squad for the continental competition. There was however no place for veteran all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz and top-order batter Mohammad Naim, who were both part of the Bangladesh side that defeated Pakistan 2-1 last month in Dhaka.
The same 16-member squad will play in the three-match T20I series against the Netherlands starting on August 30. Mehidy would have missed the Netherlands matches due to personal reasons, but he also lost his place for the Asia Cup. The new ODI captain, returned to the T20I side after Bangladesh’s 2-1 defeat against UAE, but failed to live up to his potential. He, however, has been named among the four standby players.
Nurul’s last T20I appearance was in the World Cup in 2022 in Australia, when he made just 41 runs in five innings. The 31-year-old had a much better campaign in the 2024-25 season in which he scored 513 runs at a strike rate of 132.90 across the Bangladesh Premier League, National Cricket League and the Global Super League (GSL). The Khulna-born Nurul had also led Rangpur Riders to the inaugural GSL title in last year.
Litton Das will continue his role as the captain of Bangladesh in the shortest format of the game. Meanwhile, the bowling line-up will have the experienced trio of Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, and Shoriful Islam available. All eyes will be on Jaker Ali in the batting department as he has been in stunning form in recent months.
Bangladesh are placed in Group B in the Asia Cup. They will begin their campaign on September 11 against Hong Kong at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Their next two games will be against Sri Lanka on September 13 and Afghanistan on September 16 at the same venue.
Bangladesh squad for Asia Cup and Netherlands T20Is: Litton Das (C, WK), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Saif Hassan, Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mohammad Saifuddin.
Reserves – Soumya Sarkar, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Tanvir Islam, Hasan Mahmud.
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